Since the invention of the telephone in the nineteenth century, telephone companies have efficiently and effectively provided voice communication services to customers worldwide. Telephones are ubiquitous and easy to use. Since the advent of powerful data communications technology, it has been a goal of the industry to provide a multimedia capability (such as video and voice) that will eventually be as ubiquitous as the telephone is today.
Some vendors, such as SKYPE, attempt to do so by bypassing the existing Public Switched Telephone Network and providing a solution reliant only on data technology. However, such solutions have deficiencies in alerting terminating parties and interoperability with existing Public Switched Telephone Network subscribers.
The telecommunication industry has been developing a capability called Internet protocol Multimedia Services which essentially replaces the core of the Public Switched Telephone Network with components capable of supporting multimedia services. This effort has been proceeding for over a decade at great cost with limited success due to the complexity of the solution.
The term Public Switched Telephone Network not only refers to legacy telephone companies, which use analog lines to connect to subscribers but it also includes wireless companies and telephone companies that use data access methods to connect to customers once the call is dialed by the caller.
In providing traditional phone services, for example toll-free calling, a customer uses a phone to place a toll-free call by dialing a number, which begins with toll-free leading digits such as 800 or 877. The call is routed via a telephone line to a telephone switch in the Public Switched Telephone Network. This is important because the method and system of the invention avoids the Public Switched Telephone Network in a front end series of steps.
Traditionally, once a call has been dialed, the Public Switched Telephone Network does all of the data acquisition and connections, which may involve intermediate switches. The key functionality for toll-free calling using the Public Switched Telephone Network is in connecting the call dialed on the phone to a Service Switching Point which then interacts with a Service Control Point all within the Public Switched Telephone Network.
Once a call has reached a telephone switch in the Public Switched Telephone Network, which has Service Switching Point capability, the switch launches a database query using a data connection to the Service Control Point also in the Public Switched Telephone Network. For example, using the toll-free example, the database query accesses toll-free routing data.
The Service Control Point is one of multiple database end points in the Public Switched Telephone Network, which house toll-free number data and which are connected using a data network, which is typically built using Signaling System 7 technology. Signaling System No. 7 is a set of telephony signaling protocols which are used to set up most of the world's public switched telephone network telephone calls. The main purpose is to set up and tear down telephone calls. Other uses include number translation, local number portability, prepaid billing mechanisms, short message service, and a variety of other mass market services.
The present invention does not use telephone company facilities to carry messages using Signaling System 7 technology in the front end processing because the front end processing avoids using the Public Switched Telephone Network. While enhanced SS7 processing utilizing Internet protocol technology may be adapted to run over the Internet from a smart phone, the difference is that no Public Switched Telephone Network servers would be used.
In providing traditional phone services, the Service Control Point returns the actual called number that the business owner of the toll-free number wishes the call to be routed to, back to the Service Switching Point in the Public Switched Telephone Network. The Service Switching Point then routes the call through the Public Switched Telephone Network until it ultimately reaches the destination telephone. In the toll-free calling example, the caller is not billed for the phone call. Cell phone customers may be charged for minutes of use. However, the business owner of the toll-free number is billed by the telephone company.
In traditional toll-free communications processes, there may be multiple layers of Service Control Point processing. A Local Exchange Carrier in the Public Switched Telephone Network may launch an initial query through a data network towards a Local Exchange Carrier Service Control Point to first determine which Inter Exchange Carrier “owns” the toll-free number. The call is then forwarded from a Local Exchange Carrier Service Switching Point to an Inter Exchange Carrier Service Switching Point. At this point, the Inter Exchange Carrier Service Switching Point sends a data query through a data network to an Inter Exchange Carrier Service Control Point which returns the called number toward which the business owner of the toll-free number wishes the call directed.
Wireless phone customers are increasingly using “Smart Phones” which are cell phones that have computing capability and a data communication capability. These phones not only enable the customer to make a voice phone call, they also enable customers to access data networks by utilizing applications, or “apps”, that can be downloaded from an “app store” into the smart phone. This vastly increases the utility of the cell phones to the customers.
A large number of businesses around the world provide free voice telephone access to their customers by providing their customers with access numbers which are toll free to the callers. In some countries this is called Free Phone.
Other terms may be used to describe the same capability. Examples of such numbers in North America are 10 digit telephone numbers beginning with 800 or 877. When a caller dials a toll-free number, software in the Public Switched Telephone Network queries a network of databases. The result returned from the database query is the actual telephone number to which the business wants the call completed such as a call center location. The call is then routed through the Public Switched Telephone Network to the location.